glcssmgs  xmM  thr  sip  of  filrssiiip  in  sIbk. 


A    DISCOURSE 


DKl.IVKHED, 


THAKKSGIVING    DAI, 


NOVEMBER       ;^0,       18  56, 


IN  THE  FmST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 


TO  THE  UNITED  CONGREGATIONS  OF  THE  FIRST 
AND  SECOND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES 


AUBURN, 


BY  E.  A.  HUNTINGTON, 

PKOFE.,S0R  OF   BIBLICAL  CRXTICISM  IN  THE   THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  AT  AUBURIT. 


AUBUEN : 

WM.  J.  MOSES'  STEAM  JOB  PRESS. 

1856.     , 


Tf\G- 


UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

Special  Collections  &  Rare  Books 


^Imkp  mtM  iij  sip  of  "ghsskp  m  sim. 

A    DISCOURSE, 

DELIVERED, 

THANKSGIVING   DAY 

NOVEMBER      20,      1856, 

IN  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


TO  THE  UNITED  CONGREGATIONS  OF  THE  FIRST 
AND  SECOND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES 


AUBUKN, 


BY  E.  A.  HUNTINGTON,       ^^ 

PROFESSOR  OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  i'n  THE   THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  AT  AUBURN. 


AUBURN : 

WM.  J.  MOSES'  STEAM  JOB  PRESS. 

1856. 


f^P 


Rev.  E.  a.  Huntington,  D.  D. 

Dear  Sir : — Your  discourse,  recently  delivered  in  the  First  Preshyterian 
Church,  in  this  place,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Public  Thanksgiving,  was  listened  to 
with  great  interest  by  the  large  congregation  in  attendance  ;  and  that  the  sphere  of 
that  interest  and  instruction  maybe  enlarged,  we  respectfully  request  you  to  faraish 
a  copy  for  publication. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

S.    "WiLLARD, 

J.  N.  Starin, 
H.  Woodruff, 
S.  W.  Arnett, 
S.  L.  Bradlet, 
I.  F.  Terrill. 


ISSSRS     WiLLARD,    StARIN,    AND    OTHERS. 

Gentlemen  ;— Jt  gives  me  pleasure  to  comply  with  your  request.  The 
issue  of  an  exciting  political  contest  naturally  leaves  maiiy  minds  full  of  ominous 
forebodings.  On  this  account,  I  am  willing  to  contribute,  the  little  in  my  power,  to 
encourage  those  hopeful  views  of  our  country,  which  our  national  blessings  wairant, 
and  which  it  is  one  sign  of  gratitude  to  the  Father  of  our  mercies  to  contemplate. 

Yours,  very  respectfully, 

E.   A.  Huntington. 


A    DISCOURSE 


"  The  Lord  hath   been  mindful  of  lis :    he   will   bless 
z;^."— Psalm  115:  12. 

When  we  are  called  upon,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  to 
bring  oiir  olferings  into  the  house  of  the  Lord,  in  acknow- 
ledgment of  his  benefits  towards  us,  there  are  two  aspects  in^ 
either  of  which  these  benefits  may  be  gratefully  contemplated 
We  may  estimate  their  intrinsic  worth,  or  rather  their  direct 
and  positive  usefulness  to  us,  and  on  this  account  we  may 
call  upon  our  souls  and  all  that  is  within  us  to  bless  the  holy 
name  of  Ilim  from  whom  cometh  down  every  good  and  every 
perfect  gift.  It  is  our  privilege  to  value  them  for  so  much 
^  as  they  will  measure,  or  weigh,  or  pass  current  in  exchange 
for  the  means  of  supplying  our  wants  and  increasing  our 
enjoyments.  In  a  state  of  remarkable  prosperity,  we  have 
inspired  authority  to  sa}^,  "  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things 
for  us  ;  whereof  we  are  glad."  But  the  text,  and  the  whole 
drift  of  the  Psalm  from  which  it  is  selected,  and  many  a 
parallel  passage  of  the  sacred  volume  suggest  to  us  to  con- 
sider the  riches  of  divine  providence  and  grace  in  another 


light ;  tliat  is,  not  barely  as  riches  in  hand,  but  as  pledges  of 
greater  riches  to  come. 

Nor  is  it  unnatural,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  habitual  and 
agreeable  to  us,  to  take  this  view  of  many  of  our  blessings. 
We  hail  the  first  symptoms  of  recovery  from  sickness  rather 
as  a  token  for  good  than  as  the  proper  good  which  we  desire. 
And  this  is  the  secret  of  the  husbandman's  joy  in  the 
springing  of  the  blade  from  the  seed  which  he  has  sown  ;  for 
he  knows  that  the  blade  will  be  followed  by  the  ear,  and 
'•  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  This,  too,  is  the  secret 
of  the  inventor's  rejoicing,  when  he  beholds  the  first  move- 
ment of  the  machine  which  he  has  constructed ;  albeit  that 
machine  may  be  of  rude  workmanship,  coarse  material,  and 
diminutive  size  ;  and  albeit  its  movement  may  be  as  feeble 
and  awkward  as  that  of  a  new-born  child.  It  is  not  the 
present  appearance  or  efiicicncy  of  the  instrument,  but  its 
promise,  for  which  the  inventor  congratulates  himself.  Y^hen 
Israel  trod  the  farther  shore  of  the  Eed  Sea,  loud  vras  the 
song  which  they  took  up  from  the  waves  behind  them,  and 

poured  out  over  the  wilderness  before  them.     It  was  not  the 

« 

triumphant  end,  but  the  auspicious  beginning  of  their  deliv- 
erance which  then  they  celebrated.  The  pilgrims  coming  to 
our  shores  in  bleak  December  are  worn  out  by  a  long  and 
tempestuous  voyage.  They  are  ready  to  perish.  Keverthe- 
less,  making  their  arduous  way  to  land,  as  if  it  were  a  para- 
dise, with  one  voice  they  lift  up  their  hearts  to  God,  and 
thank  him  for  the  home  which  he  has  provided.     But  is  that 


home  a  paradise  already,  or  a  paradise  to  be?  Those  holy 
pilgrims  on  that  barren  rock  are  praising  the  Lord,  like  the 
fugitives  in  the  wilderness  of  old,  in  view,  not  so  much  of 
what  they  see,  as  of  what  i\\cj foresee  in  what  they  sec. 
They  take  up  their  song  from  the  boisterous  ocean, — roughly 
kind  to  them,  in  obedience  to  Him  who  "  maketh  the  storm 
a  calm,  so  that  the  waves  thereof  arc  still,"  and  who  thus 
through  the  treacherous  deep  opcneth  a  safe  path  for  his 
chosen,  and  "  bringeth  them  unto  their  desired  haven," — and 
they  pour  out  that  song  over  this  new  world,  and  prepare  to 
follow  its  flying  notes  over  hill  and  valley,  across  river  and 
lake,  till  "the  day  of  small  things,"  which  they  "despise 
not,"  shill  issue  in  a  day  of  great  things,  in  which  their  chil- 
dren shall  exult. 

But  it  is  not  only  in  such  cases  as  these,  when  the  present 
good  is  comparatively  insignificant,  that  we  should  accustom 
ourselves  to  read  in  it  the  promise,  made  valid  by  God's  own 
sign  manual,  of  a  better  portion  in  store  for  us.  The  greatest 
acquisition  in  this  life  is,  after  all,  but  a  beginning,  and 
should  be  regarded  more  as  a/>roq/'of  God's  good  will  toward 
us  than  as  the  last  and  highest  expression  of  it.  Even  the 
choicest  blessings  of  the  Gospel  are  but  means  to  an  end 
The  very  fruits  of  these  blessings  in  our  hearts,  while  we 
remain  here  below,  are  but  the  first-fruits,  the  foretaste  and 
earnest  of  a  more  abundant  harvest  in  heaven.  Instead, 
therefore,  of  bidding  our  souls  take  their  ease  in  temporal 
riches,  we  are  not  even  to  count  ourselves  to  have  apprehended 


4  3 


TT 


the  grace  and  truth  v/hich  come  by  Jesus  Christ,  so  long  as 
we  remain  in  the  flesh.  The  ver}^  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
however  fully  experienced  on  earth,  must  still  be  estimated, 
not  only  according  to  their  actual  value,  but  also  according 
to  their  value  as  notes,  the  representatives  of  something  more 
precious,  to  be  paid  at  a  future  day ;  for  in  this  state  of 
trial,  "  as  it  is  written,  eye  halh  not  seen,  nor  car  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which 
God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him." 

Although  then,  fellow  citizens  and  Christian  brethren,  we 
might  well  survey  our  national  and  personal  blessings,  in 
order,  from  their  inherent  excellence  and  immediate  service, 
to  derive  motives  for  coming  before  the  Lord  with  our  thanks- 
givings and  our  praises,  yet  let  us  prefer  to  take  a  larger  view 
of  our  obligations  to  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  let  us  magnify 
his  name  for  the  manifold  mercies  foreshadowed  in  the 
manifold  mercies  enjoyed. 

It  will  not  be  difficult  to  show,  that  every  distinguishing 
element  and  characteristic  of  our  unexampled  prosperity,  as 
a  people,  is  more  a  promise  than  a  fulfilment.  It  is  not  a 
finished,  but  a  growing  good.  Great  as  it  now  is,  it  is  be- 
coming greater  for  the  morrow,  and,  rightly  improved,  no 
human  foresight  can  discover  when  it  will  reach  maturity 
and  begin  to  decay.  Written  all  over  with  the  finger  of 
God,  may  be  read  upon  it,  "  The  Lord  hath  been  mindful  of 
us  ;  he  will  bless  us.  .  .  .  The  Lor3  shall  increase  you 
more  and  more,  you  and  your  children." 


I.  Carrying  this  train  of  reflection  along  with  us,  let  us 
glance  for  a  moment,  in  the  first  place,  at  the  extent  of  our 
country  compared  mi\\its  population.  Stretching  from  east 
to  west  across  the  widest  part  of  the  continent,  and  from 
the  inland  seas  and  their  majestic  outlet  to  the  ocean,  on  the 
north,  to  the  American  Mediterranean  on  the  south — when 
we  survey  this  vast  territory,  the  unparalleled  increase  of  its 
inhabitants  in  eighty  years,  from  three  millions  to  thirty,  is 
as  nothing.  This  vast  territory,  capable  of  sustaining  a 
population  as  large  as  that  of  China,  a  third  or  a  fourth  part 
of  the  whole  race,  three  or  four  hundred  millions,  is  as  yet 
inhabited  by  no  larger  number  than  crowd  the  little  islands 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  What  then  is  this  boundless 
domain  to  us,  a  mere  handful,  thinly  scattered  over  it  ?  For 
our  present  use  and  enjoyment,  it  is  no  more  than  that  petty 
pittance  of  it  which  we  can  occupy.  But  for  our  future  en- 
largement, it  is  everything  which,  known  or  unknown,  already 
appropriated  or  yet  to  be  discovered,  may  be  included  within 
its  unmeasured  limits.  And  to  whom  the  Lord  hath  given 
such  an  estate,  hath  He  not  promised  an  expansion  to  suit  it  ? 
Accepting  this  "  goodly  heritage"  as  his  allotment,  and  hold- 
ing it  in  his  name  and  for  his  glory,  is  it  not  his  assurance 
to  us  that  we  shall  go  on  ever  multiplying,  as  a  people,  while 
*'  yet  there  is  room  ?"  Is  it  not  with  us  as  it  was  w^ith 
Abraham,  when  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  "After  that  Lot  was 
departed  from  him  :  Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from 
the  place  where   thou   art,  northward,  and  southward,  and 


8 


eastward,  and  westward  :  for  all  the  land  which  thou  seest.  to 
thee  wilM  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed  forever.  And  I  will  make 
thy  seed  as  the  dust  of  the  earth :  so  that  if  a  man  can  num 
ber  the  dust  of  the  earth,  then  shall  thy  seed  also  be  num- 
bered. Arise,  and  walk  through  the  land,  in  the  length  of 
it  and  in  the  breadth  of  it ;  for  I  will  give  it  unto  thee  ?"  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that  it  is  because  God  intended,  on' certain 
conditions,  to  make  of  us  a  great  nation — as  the  stars  of 
heaven  for  multitude — that  he  has  placed  us  where  there  is 
ample  space  and  verge  enough  for  an  indefinite  increase. 

II.  We  shall  find  a  second  illustration  of  the  same  point 
in  the  resoiirces  of  this  '^  goodly  land  and  large,"  compared 
wdth  our  ability  to  develope  them.     We  have  not  inherited  a 
desert,  the  terrible  sublimity  of  its  vastness  constituting  its 
most  remarkable  peculiarity.     It  is  full  of  all  the  various 
material  of  national  wealth  ;  material  which  it  is  impossible 
for  a  sparse  population  to  convert  into  wealth,  and  to  raise 
to  its  highest  value  or  greatest  utility.     We   can   neither 
bring  the  soil  nor  the  mine  to  its  utmost  productiveness. 
Our  lakes  expand,  our  rivers  flow,  our  seas  and  oceans  en- 
circle us  on  every  side,  and  excavate  our  harbors  at  convenient 
distances  along  our  coasts,  and  roll  their  billows  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  not  "  to  waft  a  feather,"  not  to  facilitate  our 
present  comparatively  inconsiderable  commerce  merel}^,  but 
to  invite,  and  foster,  and  accommodate  a  commerce  which  shall 
be  adequate  to  the  demands  of  any  population  with  which 


these  States  may  hereafter  teem  and  swarm.  Wo  have  with- 
in our  own  borders  the  means  for  the  convenient  subsistence 
of  well  nigh  the  whole  race.  With  husbandmen  enough,  we 
may  fill  a  granary  for  the  world.  With  artificers  enough,  we 
may  supply  the  world  with  all  the  implements  and  fabrics 
essential  to  civilized  life.  It  is  the  glory  of  our  mother 
country  to  be  the  world's  workshop.  It  may  be  our  glory,  in 
coming  time,  to  be  the  world's  work-shop  and  granary  both. 
Such  resources  we  may  alienate;  but  we  cannot*  consume 
them.  We  hold  the  title  to  them,  but  like  heirs  in  their  mi- 
nority, we  are  constrained,  by  the  circumstances  of  our  con- 
dition, as  if  by  legal  enactments,  to  content  ourselves  with  a 
petty  allowance  from  these  resources ;  not  such  an  income  as 
indicates  their  capital  value,  but  only  such  as  it  is  fit  or  pos- 
sible for  us  to  expend.  Meanwhile  the  surplus  proceeds  ac- 
cumulate, and  the  unproductive  parts  of  the  inheritance  wait, 
till  we  shall  be  of  age,  and  our  capacity,  both  for  business 
and  happiness,  shall  be  equal  to  the  management  and  enjoy- 
ment of  them.  Mirrored  upon  our  many  waters,  embossed 
upon  our  fertile  fields,  engraved  upon  the  iron  and  copper 
and  silver  and  gold  of  our  exhaustless  mines,  and  chiseled  in 
the  granite  and  marble  of  our  great  mountains,  and  etched 
indelibly  upon  our  interminable  strata  of  coal,  one  and  the 
same  sentence  everywhere  meets  our  e^^es  :  "  The  Lord  hath 
been  mindful  of  us  :  he  will  bless  us." 

III.    In  connection  with  our  acquisition  of  such  a  land 


UT 


and  sucli  treasures  in  it,  it  may  be  instructive  to  notice  in 
passing,  that,  as  if  to  enable  us  to  keep  and  to  improve  them  ^ 
as  one  people,  the  most  wonderful  of  all  the  modern  discov- 
eries in  science  and  inventions  in  art  have  been  made,  ac- 
cording to  the  proverb,  "  in  the  very  nick  of  time."  But  for 
these,  discoveries  and  inventions,  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
the  union  of  these  States  could  have  been  preserved  even  till 
now.  Oa  account  of  them,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  be 
preserved,  time  out  of  mind.  At  all  events,  they  constitute 
ties  stronger  than  the  ties  of  blood  and  language,  to  bind  us 
together.  Bars  of  iron,  crossing  each  other  at  all  angles,  and 
prolonged  farther  and  farther,  year  by  year,  are  fastening 
down  upon  these  States  to  make  them  "now  and  forever  one 
and  inseparable."  And  stronger  than  bars  of  iron,  though 
vibrating  under  the  foot  of  the  lightest  bird,  and  swaying  like 
gossamer  in  the  wind,  a  net-work  of  paths  for  the  obedient 
lightning  serves  the  same  purpose  still  more  effectually. 
And  when,  through  this  instrumentality,  at  once  so  frail  and 
so  powerful,  and  by  means  of  this  swift-winged  messenger,  I 
hear  the  Pacific  whispering  to  the  Atlantic,  and  the  Atlantic 
shouting  back  to  the  Pacific,  methinks  they  say.  We  embrace 
one  family  in  our  arms,  and  our  fond  duty  it  is  to  compel 
them  to  abide,  world  without  end,  in  mutual  harmony ;  never 
to  suffer  them  to  entertain  the  spirit  of  strife  and  division, 
even  for  a  moment.  It  is  the  voice  of  God  on  both  sides, 
speaking  benedictions  which  impel  us  to  exclaim,  '•  The  Lord 
hath  been  mindful  of  us :  he  will  bless  us." 


11 


IV.  More  significant  still,  are  our  extraordinary  mer.ns  of 
intellectual  and  moral  education  ;  tlieir  excellence  and  multi- 
plication and  diffusion,  together  with  their  perfect  adapted- 
ness  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  Our  schools  and 
Churches  are  the  best  evidence  that  the  Lord  hath  been  mind- 
ful of  us,  and  the  surest  token  that  he  will  bless  us.  Learn- 
ing and  piety  are  the  only  reliable  safe-guards  of  any  govern- 
ment, emphatically  of  a  popular  government.  More  than  this, 
they  are  the  real  though  often  despised  and  forgotten  sources 
of  all  thrift  in  business,  of  all  improvement  in  art,  and  refine- 
ment in  manners,  and  of  all  progress,  in  whatever  direction, 
towards  a  high  civilization.  Our  theory,  and  in  a  good  de- 
gree our  practice  is,  to  educate  everybody,  to  teach  everybody 
the  wisdom  which  springs  up  at  our  feet  and  the  wisdom 
which  cometh  down  from  above.  We  have  no  exoteric  phil- 
osoj^hy.  We  hide  no  secrets  in  our  libraries.  We  hang  up 
no  veil  before  the  mercy-seat  in  our  sanctuaries.  We  forbid 
no  class  of  mankind,  save  one,  no  individual,  to  strive  for  the 
mastery,  whether  in  the  arena  of  intellectual  gladiatorship, 
or  in  the  race  "  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus."  We  throw  open  the  doors,  and  go  out  into  the 
streets,  and  into  the  highways  and  hedges,  and  invite,  yea 
urge  the  most  ignorant  and  degraded — with  one  exception — 
to  aspire  to  all. knowledge,  human  and  divine,  and  to  cultivate 
every  virtue  of  earth,  and  every  grace  of  heaven. 

Such  is  our  national  profession,  and  our  national  contempt 
of  this  profession  though  in  some  instances  outrageous,  is  still 


12 


to  bs  regarded  as  exceptional,  and  thougli  recently  perhaps 
increasing,  is  destined,  we  hope  and  pray,  henceforth  to  di- 
minish, and  at  no  distant  day  to  disappear.  To  be  the  world's 
work-shop,  or  the  world's  granary,  or  both,  is  a  small  matter- 
It  is  for  us,  if  we  will,  to  be  the  world's  school-house,  and  the 
"  house  of  prayer  for  all  people,"  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor,  until  ''  the  poor  of  this  world"  shall  be  "  rich  in  faith,' 
and  at  sight  of  them,  the  rich  of  this  world  shall  be  "poor  in 
spirit,"  and  thus  both  shall  inherit  "  the  kingdom  which  God 
hath  promised  to  them  that  love  him."  Surely,  for  this  reason 
also,  and  more  than  for  any  other  reason  hitherto  mentioned, 
it  is  our  exalted  privilege,  like  Abraham  of  old,  by  the  light  of 
the  present  to  gather  gladness  from  the  future,  and,  believing 
God,  to  thank  him  because  he  hath  been  mindful  of  us,  and 
will  therefore  continue  to  bless  us. 

Y.  Resulting  in  part  from  the  foregoing  reasons — partic- 
ularly the  last — for  appropriating  the  words  of  the  Psalmist 
to  ourselves,  and,  in  some  aspects  of  it  stronger  than  any  of 
them,  or  than  all  combined,  is  the  tendency  of  emigrants 
from  almost  all  other  lands  to  our  shores.  Hardly  is  there 
a  tribe  under  heaven  not  represented  in  these  States.  The 
streams  of  immigration  wash  over  our  country  from  every 
point  of  the  compass,  on  every  spot  to  precipitate  their 
mingled  freights  of  poverty  and  riches,  of  good  and  evil. 
Such  a  spectacle  was  never  before  witnessed.  From  the 
cradle  of  humanity  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  the  chil- 


i: 


dren  of  men  separated,  four  thousand  years  ago,  some  going 
east,  some  west,  to  replenish  the  earth  and  to  subdue  it ;  and 
now  and  here,  for  the  first  time,  the  descendants  of  those  who 
vrent  east  meet  the  descendants  of  those  who  came  west,  to 
dwell  together  under  one  government,  and  to  prosecute  their 
various  avocations  together,  in  peace  and  quietness,  as  one 
people.  The  motto  of  our  national  banner,  E  Plurihus 
Unu7?i,  One  from  Many,  bears  daily  a  larger  import. 
Originally  expressing  the  union  of  but  thirteen  feeble  colo- 
nies, mostly  from  the  same  mother  country,  it  now  means  a 
vast  deal  more  than  thirty-one  mighty  States  united.  It 
means  one  people  formed  out  of  all  nations  ;  bearing  at  least 
a  remote  resemblance  to  that  great  multitude  which  the  apos- 
tle saw  in  the  new  Jerusalem,  redeemed  out  of  every  kindred 
and  tongue,  yet  speaking  one  language,  and  joining  in  one 
song  of  grateful  praise.  Europe  furnished  the  beginning  of 
our  population,  and  is  still  making  the  largest  additions  to  it. 
But  we  have  millions  from  Africa,  and  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  from  Asia  and  the  isles  of  the  sea.  Here,  during 
times  of  civil  commotion  in  their  respective  States,  have  fled 
refugees  from  Canada,  Mexico,  and  every  part  of  South 
America,  from  France,  and  Germany,  and  Italy,  and  Austria, 
and  Poland,  and  Hungary,  and  from  the  most  distant  convict 
settlements  of  Great  Britain.  Here  they  come  flocking,  ac- 
coiding  to  their  most  pressing  wants,  some  for  bread,  some 
for  farms,  some  for  political  liberty,  some  for  social  equality, 
and  some  for  freedom  of  conscience.     So  it  happens   that 


TT 


foreigners  by  birth,  everywhere  throughout  our  wide  domain, 
mingle  with  foreigners  by  descent,  as  we  all  are,  in  plough- 
ing our  fields,  digging  our  canals,  laying  our  railways,  nav- 
igating our  rivers  and  lakes  and  seas,  excavating  our  mines, 
working  our  factories,  exchanging  our  merchandise,  electing 
our  rulers,  framing  our  Constitutions,  enacting,  interpreting 
and  executing  our  laws,  building  and  using  our  school-houses, 
our  academies,  our  colleges,  our  seminaries  and  Churches, 
our  prisons,  our  asylums  and  our  hospitals ;  in  all  possible 
ways  and  by  all  possible  means,  forming  and  modifying  our 
national  character,  and  evolving,  if  not  our  "manifest,"  certainly 
our  real  and  inevitable  destiny.  The  miracle  of  Babel  is  re- 
versed among  us,  and,  instead  of  one  speech  confounded  by 
division,  we  witness  many  tongues  made  intelligible  by  union. 
All  the  languages  and  dialects  of  men  are  abandoned  for  a 
common  vehicle  of  thought ;  and  at  this  moment,  our  strong 
old  English  is  spoken  in  greater  purity  and  with  greater 
uniforQiity,  by  the  mixed  race  of  American  citizens,  from 
Maine  to  California,  than  in  the  little  island  from  which  it 
was  imported,  by  the  large  majority  of  the  native  race,  its  blood 
uncontaminated  since  the  days  of  good  king  Arthur. 

I  am  aware  that  in  the  eye  of  political  prejudice  and  re- 
ligious animosity, — in  which  I  confess  myself  to  have  an  am- 
ple share, — the  foreign  element  of  our  population  is  only 
evil  and  that  continually.  On  this  question,  in  this  place,  I 
have  nothing  either  to  deny  or  to  affirm.  This  foreign  ele- 
ment may  be  in  itself  as  bad  as  it  can  be  regarded,  and  yet 


15 


the  ter.dency  of  it  towards  our  country  may,  after  all,  be  the 
most  conclusive  proof  that  the  Lord  hath  been  mindful  of  us, 
and  is  still  waiting  to  bless  us  more  and  more.  The  tendency 
of  the  sick  to  a  hospital,  or  of  the  insane  to  an  asylum,  is  surely 
to  its  commendation,  speaking  unequivocally  of  the  wisdom 
of  its  management  and  of  the  blessing  on  its  inmates.  The 
inclination  of  pilgrims  and  strangers,  the  world  over,  to  come 
here,  is  one  thing;  the  effect  of  their  presence  here  is  quite 
another  thing.  And  it  is  only  of  their  inclination  to  com.e 
here  that  I  am  now  speaking. 

This  wonderful  phenomenon  may  be  attributed  to  the  incal- 
culable abundance  and  value  of  our  physical  resources.  But 
in  this  respect  the  territory  of  these  States  is  not  superior,  in 
some  things  not  equal  to  Mexico  and  Central  and  South  Amer- 
ica. There  are  gathered  all  the  elements  of  extended  and 
powerful  empires.  Yet  thither  turn  not  the  eyes  nor  the 
steps  of  the  needy  and  oppressed.  We  must  look,  therefore, 
for  some  other  explanation  of  the  unanimous  converging  of 
these  classes  to  our  ports  as  to  so  many  havens  of  hope  and 
rest. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  our  republican  government  is  the 
explanation.  And  is  the  security  which  we  offer  to  personal 
rights  our  great  attraction  ?  Are  the  nations  drawn  to  us  by 
the  invitation  which  we  hold  out  to  men  of  all  races — but  one — 
of  all  ranks  and  of  all  creeds,  to  meet  here  upon  the  same 
footing  ;  and,  under  no  other  restraints  than  those  which  are 
necessary  for  their  mutual  protection,  to  compete  with  one 


anotlier  for  all  the  rewards  and  all  the  honors  at  our  disposal  ? 
It  cannot  fail  to  occur  to  you,  that  the  existence  of  such  a 
government  is  itself  to  be  explained.  If  it  be  our  liberty 
which  constitutes  our  charm,  then  whence  our  liberty  ?  How 
happens  it,  that  we  have  here  no  landed  aristocracy,  no  titled 
nobility,  no  lav,^  of  primogeniture,  to  perpetuate  an  estate,  or 
a  privilege,  or  a  distinction,  in  the  same  family  from  genera- 
tion to  generation  ?  How  happens  it,  that  we  have  here  no 
established  religion,  no  lordly  hierarchy,  no  system  of  tithes, 
no  inquisitorial  courts  ?  Why  this  strange  difference  between 
our  institutions  and  these  of  almost  all  other  nations  ?  "Why 
is  it  that  this  people  alone  are  the  State,  and  that  they  alone 
elect  and  change  their  rulers  at  their  pleasure,  only  under 
restrictions  of  their  own  making,  and  teach  them  by  very 
rapid  and  summary,  yet  orderly  and  peaceful  revolutions, 
that  they  must  rule  according  to  law  or  not  rule  at  all  ?  It 
is  perfectly  obvious  that  we  must  carry  our  investigations 
farther  back,  if  we  w^ould  reach  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
question  before  us. 

And  who  can  doubt,  who  deny,  that  all  nations  flow  unto 
this  land,  for  the  very  same  reason— ^only  not  so  strong — for 
which  they  shall  finally  flow  unto  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's 
house,  saying  to  each  other  on  the  way,  ''  For  out  of  Zion  shall 
go  forth  the  law,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem. 
And  he  shall  judge  among  the  nations,  and  shall  rebuke 
many  people  :  and  they  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plough- 
shares and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks  :  nation  shall  not 


17 


lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  ar.j 
mare ;"  for  the  very  same  reason  that  "  in  those  days,  ten  men 
shall  take  hold  out  of  all  languages  of  the  nations,  even  shall 
take  hold  of  the  skirt  of  him  that  is  a  Jew,  saying,  We  will 
go  with  you  :  for  we  have  heard  that  God  is  with  you." 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  claim  for  my  country  more  than  a  very 
remote  approximation  to  that  glorious  excellence  which,  in  the 
last  days,  shall  distinguish  and  adorn  the  kingdom  of  God 
among  men.     Oar  national,  and  social,  and  personal  faults, 
our  sins,  we  have  cause  to  fear,  are  even  now  crying  to  heaven 
for  vengeance.     But  hy  the  unmerited  mercy  of  "  the  Gov- 
ernor among  the  nations,"  we  still  retain  those  divine  sources 
of  all  true  and  lasting  prosperity— the  law  of  the  Lord,  the 
word  of  God,  its  righteous  and  benevolent  and  peaceful  in- 
fluences and  effects,  which  in  coming  time  shall  make  Mount 
Zion  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  a  delightsome  land  unto  all 
the  inhabitants  thereof.     It  is,  in  spite  of  our  heinous  offences, 
on  account  of  these  inestimable  blessings,  that  all  the  kindreds 
of  the  nations  now  mingle  and  multiply -within  our  borders. 
This  holy  Book,  known  and  read  of  all  men,  whosoever  will, 
is  incontrovertibly  the  Magna  Charta  of  our  liberties.     The 
principles,  the  laws  and  ordinances  which  this  holy  Book 
teaches  us  to  observe,  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  free  insti- 
tutions, and  support  the -whole  fabric  of  our  republican  gov- 
ernment.    Without  a  standing  army,  without  a  reliable  and 
efficient  police  even  in  our  largest  cities,  and  in  our  rural 
districts  without  even  locks  or  bolts,  without  any  kind  o^ 


preparation  for  self-defencej  to  what  can  we  be  indebted  for 
our  unexampled  safety  and  sense  of  security,  at  all  hours  of 
the  night  as  well  as  of  the  day,  and  for  our  bloodless  political 
excitements  and  revolutions,  if  not  to  the  wide-spread  and  far- 
reaching,  interpenetrating,  ofcen  unacknowledged  and  unsus- 
pected power  of  the  Bible  ?     I  grant,  with  sorrow,  that  we  by 
no  means  appreciate  the  Grospel  of  the  grace  of  God  according 
to  our  familiarity  with  it  as  herein  revealed,  and  I  dread  lest 
our  familiarity  with  it  may  be  fast  diminishing.     But  God 
would  have  saved  Sodom  itself  for  the  sake  of  ten  righteous 
men,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  it  is  because  of  a  yet  not  in- 
significant proportion,  in  the  midst  of  us,  of  them  that  fear 
Him  and  keep  his  commandments,  in  some  degree  according 
to  their  knowledge  of  their  duty,  that  He  not  only  spares 
this  land,  but  still  continues  to  fix  the  gaze  of  the  world  upon 
it  in  admiration,  and  to  make  it  the  fondly  sought  refuge  of 
the  world's  poor  and  suffering  outcasts. 

It  is  not  the  doubtful  dogma  of  bigotry  or  fanaticism,  it  is 
the  certain  teaching  of  all  true  history  and  philosophy  and 
religion  alike,  that  no  outward  restraints,  mechanically  ap- 
plied, can  so  curb  the  passions  and  direct  the  conduct  of  men, 
as  to  keep  them  from  ruinous  collision  with  one  another,  and 
to  guide  them  in  courses  which  will  lead  each  to  the  promo- 
tion of  the  common  welfare.  There  must  be  ^  faith  inwardly 
received  and  voluntarily  and  cordially  obeyed.  And  no  such 
faith  has  ever  been  found  in  any  sense  adequate  to  the  end, 
except  the  faith  recorded  in  the  Bible,  the  faith  once  deliv- 


19 


ered  to  the  saints  by  holy  men,  who  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.     What  an  example  of  charity ,  in 
the  fact  that  God  himself  so  loved  the  world  as  to  give  his 
own  Son  to  die  for  his  enemies  !     What  a  motive  to  imitate 
this  divine  example,  in  the  fact  that  the  imitation  of  it  is  the 
evidence  of  our  interest  in  its  fruits,  of  our  title  to  eternal 
life,  as  the  gift  of  God  through   Jesus   Christ  our  Lord  ! 
Should  we  not  expect,  that  wherever  the  doctrines  of  grace 
might  in  any  measure  prevail,  there  in  the  same  measure 
would  prevail  that  industry,  that  honesty,  that  integrity,  that 
veracity,  that  equal  justice  in  punishing  the  guilty  and  in 
defending  the  innocent,  that  support  of  every  man  in  his  own 
temporal  and  spiritual  rights,  that  generosity,  that  kindness, 
that  forbearance,  that  gentleness,  that  humanity  to  instruct 
the  ignorant,  help  the  weak,  and  coiifort  the  afflicted,  that 
purity,  in  one  word,  that  piety  which,  let  infidelity  say  what 
it  will,  ever  acts  like  the  law  of  gravitation,  to  gather  all 
things  to  itself?     Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  and  mul- 
titudes will  cast  in  their  lot  with  that  nation  in  which  they 
perceive  the  fruits  of  righteousness,  whether  aware  of  the 
origin  of  those  fruits  or  not.     It  is  because  those  fruits,  in 
which  our  conscientious  forefathers  abounded,  are  yet  brought 
forth  in  our  land,  that  it  is  yet  the  retreat  of  the  fugitives 
from  every  clime.     It  is  because  the  Lord  hath  been  mindful 
of  us.     But  for  this  they  would  find  here  the  sepulchre,  in- 
stead of  the  asylum  of  their  hopes.     These  fugitives  prove 
that  the  Lord  hath  been  mindful  of  us ;  and  in  them,  rightly 


received,  and  honorably  and  charitably  dealt  by,  He  will 
bless  us.  I  am  not  now  speaking  of  their  political  relations 
to  us,  but  of  our  Christian  obligations  to  them.  Let  us  do 
our  duty  to  them,  and  they  are  a  token  that  the  Lord  will 
bless  us — yea,  the  blessing  itself  with  which  he  will  enrich 
us.  They  are  the  harvest,  already  white,  spread  around  our 
own  doors,  waving  over  our  own  fields,  forbidding  us  to  plead, 
in  extenuation  of  our  sloth,  that  no  man  hath  hired  us ;  com- 
manding us,  as  if  by  the  voice  of  the  Master  himself,  to  enter 
into  his  harvest,  and  to  do  with  our  might  whatsoever  our  hand 
findeth  to  do,  under  the  assurance  of  receiving  whatsoever  is 
right.  With  what  emphasis  may  it  be  said  to  the  whole 
American  people,  "  The  promise  is  to  you  and  to  your  chil- 
dren, and  to  them  that  are  afar  o/,"  to  you  and  your  chil- 
dren and  them  together.  Here,  out  of  all  lands,  God  seems 
to  be  collecting  a  people,  like  a  great  river,  from  innumerable 
rills  ;  the  quality  of  the  many  waters  ''  melted  into  one,"  ex- 
celling that  of  either  of  its  tributaries.  Evil  influences  may 
defeat  it,  but  such  influences  resisted,  and  the  fair  prospect 
is,  that  the  tree  of  humanity,  planted  in  our  soil  and  en- 
grafted with  scions  from  every  variety  of  the  race,  shall  tower 
upwards  in  strength  and  beauty,  as  it  has  nowhere  towered 
before  since  it  was  uprooted  from  paradise,  and  shall  exhibit, 
in  these  ends  of  the  earth,  something  of  its  first  and  final 
glory  and  honor  and  immortality. 


21 


In  consequence  of  tlie  large  number  of  our  sister  States 
united  with  us  in  celebrating  this  day,  I  have  been  led  to  re- 
gard it  as  a  national  festival,  and  to  address  you  thus  far  ex- 
clusively in  view  of  your  relations  as  citizens  of  the  whole 
country.  With  regard  to  your  relations  to  this  city,  to  these 
Churches,  and  to  your  respective  families,  and  with  regard  to 
your  circumstances  as  individuals,  you  can  bo  at  no  loss  to 
determine  w^herein  the  Lord  hath  been  mindful  of  you,  nor  on 
what  grounds  you  may  safely  anticipate  that  he  will  bless 
you.  I  will  only  remark,  that  you  have  the  more  reason,  and 
not  the  less  encouragement,  to  argue  from  the  past  to  the  fu- 
ture, if  at  the  present  time  you  are  in  affliction,  as  many  of 
you  must  be  personally,  and  as  I  know  you  all  to  be,  who  be- 
long to  and  constitute  these  Christian  congregations.  When 
an  interval  of  adversity  lies  like  a  starless  and'stcrmy  ni^ht 
between  two  serene  and  sunny  days, — as  with  those  youthful 
parents  from  whom  their  first-born  is  taken  ;  as  with  that 
aged  mourner  whose  life-long  companion  has  left  him  to  go 
down  alone  with  sorrow  to  the  grave ;  as  with  that  widow 
and  her  helpless  orphans  whose  house  is  left  unto  them  deso- 
late ;  as  with  you,  two  Churches  whom  I,  a  recent  stranger, 
found  confiding  and  joyous  in  your  gifted,  useful  and  honored 

pastors,  but  whom  I  now  find,  after  the  lapse  of  a  single  year, 

I* 
as  sheep  having  no  shepherds, — O  !  is  it  not  a  privilege,  in 

such  an  interval  of  adversity,  to  walk  by  faith  and  not  by 

sight;  and,  remembering  the  day  which  went  out  in  this 

thick  darkness,  to  look  for  the  day  into  which  this  thick  dark- 


ness  shall  dawn,  and  courageously  to  sing,  '''  Weeping  may 
endure  for  a  niglit,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning." 

If  my  subject  teaches  any  lesson  plainly,  my  hearers,  it 
teaches  that  confidence  in  God  is  thanksgiving ;  that  to  ar- 
crue  from  God  himself  to  himself,  is  after  the  manner  of  that 
child-like  gratitude  towards  Him,  as  our  Father,  with  which  he 
is  ever  well  pleased.  Because  "theLord  hathdonegreat  things 
for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad,"  therefore  he  will  do  great  things 
for  us,  whereof  we  shall  be  glad  ;  thus  it  becometh  us  to  cel- 
ebrate his  wonderful  works  to  the  children  of  men,  and  to 
praise  him  for  his  goodness.  It  is  the  most  ungrateful  dis- 
trust and  unbelief,  to  argue  from  ourselves  to  God,  and  to 
limit  his  mercy  and  grace  by  our  unworthiness  and  sinful- 
ness. If  He  would  not  save  the  chief  of  sinners,  no  sinner 
could  be  saved  ;  and  no  sinner  ever  will  be  saved  who  will 
not  pronounce  himself  the  chief  of  sinners.  "  Trust  in  the 
Lord  and  do  good ;"  that  is  to  ''  give  thanks  at  the  remem- 
brance of  his  holiness." 

"  Though  within  us  and  without  us, 
Darkly  opens  life  about  u?, 
Yet  by  faith  we'll  trust  the  bands 
Laid  and  kept  by  other  hands." 

It  follows,  that  with  a  race  of  sinners  like  the  children  of 
men  there  can  be  no  thankfulness  for  the  goodness  of  God, 
except  that  goodness  lead  them  to  repentance  and  faith,  the 
essential  precedents  and  first-fruits  of  all  good  works.     With- 


t 


23 


out  repentance  and  faith  there  may  be  an  animal  enjoyment, 
a  sensual  reveling  in  the  abundance  of  our  earthly  portion, 
but  no  true  gratitude  even  for  that,  while  our  spiritual  bles- 
sings, our  only  durable  riches,  will  be  entirely  overlooked,  or, 
worse  still,  despised  and  rejected.     It  is  written  that  when 
the  king  of  Persia  and  Haman,  his  favorite  minister  of  state, 
sat  down  to  drink  together,  in  exultation  over  the  enactment 
of  their  bloody  decree  for  the  extinction  of  the  people  of  God, 
"  the  city  Shushan  was  perplexed  ;"    that  kind  of   sensual 
and  cruel  sclf-gratulation  threw  the  great  capital  of  Persia 
into  confusion  and  dismay.     But  when   Nineveh  repented, 
proclaiming  a  fast  and  putting  on   sack-cloth,  because  they 
believed  God,  there  was  a  quiet,  sober  joy  in  that  "  exceeding 
great  city  of  three  days'  journey,"  and  no  soul  was  troubled 
save  the  soul  of  Jonah,  and  his  soul,  with  but  a  momentary 
flash  of  foolish  anger.     Shall  we  not  this  day  praise  the  Lord 
our  God,  and  offer  unto  Him  our  thanksgivings,  by  puttino- 
away  our  sins,  our  pride,  our  covetousness,  our  ambition,  our 
unbelief,  our  form  of  Godliness  emptied  of  its  power,  our 
bigotry,  our  superstition,  our  licentiousness,  our  intemperance, 
our  oppression  ?     Shall  we  not  break  every  yoke,  and  let  the 
oppressed  go  free  ?     Shall  we  not  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the 
naked,  visit  the  sick  and  the  imprisoned,  and  alleviate  every 
form  of  human  suffering,  according  to  our  ability  ? 

I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  bring  your  gratitude  at  once  to 
the  test,  and  to  give  you  a  fair  opportunity  of  determining  in 
what  light,  with  what  emotions,  you  contemplate  the  forbear- 


ance  and  mercy  of  God  towards  jou,  by  determining  Low  you 
feel  and  are  ready  to  act  towards  your  delinquent  fellow- 
servants.  It  is  your  custom,  on  this  occasion,  to  make  an 
offering  as  God  has  blessed  you  in  your  basket  and  your 
store,  to  aid  the  Martha  Washington  Society,  in  their  truly 
benevolent  work.  I  love  to  beg  for  anybody  but  myself,  and 
this  feeling,  I  sometimes  think,  constitutes  the  most  striking 
difference  between  a  beggar  and  a  minister.  I  love  to  beg  for 
any  class  of  the  poor  and  the  suffering  ;  but  for  the  family  of 
the  wretched  inebriate, — that  broken-hearted  wife,  those  neg- 
lected children,  no  wood  in  the  shed,  no  provision  in  the 
cellar,  no  fire  in  the  stove,  the  roof  no  shelter  from  the  rain, 
the  window  no  protection  from  the  blast,  that  wife  and  those 
children  shrinking  into  themselves,  shrinking  away  from  the 
world,  away  from  their  natural  protector,  life  one  incessant 
want,  and  shame,  and  dread, — if  I  could  think  it  necessary  to 
beg  for  such  a  family,  before  such  an  audience,  now  that  your 
barns  are  filled  with  plenty,  now  that  stern  winter  is  ap- 
proaching, I  should  be  forced  to  the  incredible  conclusion, 
that  this  religious  service  is  nothing  better  than  a  vain  show, 
an  impious  mockery  !  If  the  pitiable  objects  of  this  Society 
do  not  plead  for  themselves,  no  word  of  mine  can  touch  your 
hearts  in  their  behalf.  But  your  hearts  are  already  impatient 
to  express  themselves  with  all  the  liberality  that  the  case  can 
possibly  demand,  and  why  should  I  keep  you  waiting  ? 


p.    SEP 


1945     ' 


